She Don't Know She's Beautiful
by christibabe
Summary: This is a song-fic where Lester comes to a realization about Stephanie. There is no Lester/Stephanie pairing. The tone is Babe and Morelli doesn't appear. Just a bit of fluff that came to mind when I heard the song.


Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any characters you don't recognize are a figment of my imagination and belong to me. Any resemblance to real persons is strictly a coincidence.

This is a song-fic where Lester reflects on something he just realized about Stephanie. The song is She Don't Know She's Beautiful by Sammy Kershaw This is a one-shot only.

**She Don't Know She's Beautiful**

Lester's POV:

I walked into Shorty's and joined the rest of the guys from Rangeman. I was only running ten minutes late due to a distraction we had scheduled for tonight. Things got a little dicey for a while but we ended up with the skip all trussed up and Cal and I had taken him down to the police station before heading to our apartments to get cleaned up before coming. Normally it wouldn't have bothered me to just wear the clothes I had on but both Cal and I didn't want Beautiful to have any reminders of how bad things got tonight. Even on black, blood shows up.

_We go out to a party somewhere  
The moment we walk in the door  
People stop, and everybody stares  
She don't know what they're starin' for_

Everything went great till the skip followed her outside. The problem was he recognized us the second he saw us and she was too close for comfort. He got hold of her and used her as a shield. I hate to think what might have happened but before anyone could do anything she twisted and kneed the skip in the gonads and he went down grabbing his crotch and moaning. She ran and managed to get away from him, running straight into Ranger's arms. The skip pulled out a gun and fired before anyone could get to him though.

_She don't know she's beautiful (Never crossed her mind)  
She don't know she's beautiful (No, she's not that kind)  
She don't know she's beautiful  
Though time and time I've told her so_

A scream was the first indication of just who had been hit. She was frantic as she tried to stem the flow of blood flowing from Ranger's arm. Tank and Hector got the skip all trussed up and chained to the back of the SUV. I and Cal went over to help Beautiful with Ranger. We had managed to get a good deal of Ranger's blood on us before Bobby got there and took over. By now Tank and Hector had joined us as well. Once we knew Ranger was going to be okay and Beautiful had calmed down, Cal and I volunteered to drive the skip to the cop shop. Bobby was driving Ranger and Beautiful to the hospital and Tank and Hector were going to clean things up with the people milling around.

_There she goes, just walkin' down the street  
And someone lets a whistle out  
A girl like her, she just can't see  
What the fuss is all about_

Cal and I took a direct route to the police station with the skip and handed him over 20 minutes later. No one even bothered to ask what had happened to the man's face. There were several officers who asked us to give their regards to Ranger and several asked if Stephanie was okay. Done with our duty we drove back to Rangeman and went to get cleaned up. I looked around and saw Cal was already here. I raised an eyebrow and wondered how he had beat me. He smiled when he saw me and waved me over. I joined the group and noticed there were two chairs still empty.

_And she don't know she's beautiful (Never crossed her mind)  
She don't know she's beautiful (No, she's not that kind)  
She don't know she's beautiful  
Though time and time, I've told her so_

I grabbed a slice of pizza and looked around. I had just taken a bite when the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen walked in the door. I chewed absentmindedly as I watched the woman make her way over to our table. There were whistles and cat calls but she acted like she didn't even notice. When someone made the comment "Man she's beautiful", the woman looked around to see who might be behind her. She frowned when she didn't see any other woman. She stopped and took one of the two remaining chairs, and as she sat she smiled. I heard the intake of breaths and watched as she didn't even react. In that second I realized she had no clue she was the one the guy had been talking about. She had no clue how beautiful she was.

_Morning comes, and her hair's all a mess  
That's when she thinks she looks the worst  
It's times like this, she don't know why  
I can't take my eyes off her_

I smiled at the woman who had just sat down at our table and said, "Glad you could join us Beautiful."

She smiled and said, "It took a while for them to stitch up Ranger. He tried to convince me he just needed a band aide but I wasn't listening. Then we had to go home and get cleaned up."

_'Cause she don't know she's beautiful (Never crossed her mind)  
She don't know she's beautiful (No, she's not that kind)_  
_She don't know she's beautiful _

I smile and can't help but laugh as a song starts playing. She looks at me with a puzzled look and I wink and tell her to listen up because the song is about her, it's a Sammy Kershaw tune about a woman not knowing she's beautiful. She listens for a few seconds and blushes. The rest of us just smile and laugh. Ranger reaches over and puts his hand at the back of her neck and pulls her closer and kisses her lips. He gives her a megawatt smile and says, "Love you Babe."

_Though time and time, I've told her_

I can't help thinking what a lucky bastard he is to have her love. Her beauty isn't just skin deep. It goes all the way through to her soul.

_She don't know she's beautiful (Never crossed her mind)__  
__She don't know she's beautiful (No, she's not that kind)  
She don't know she's beautiful  
Though time and time, I've told her..._

Her eyes light up like the sun and we are all warmed by the love and beauty shining out of her.


End file.
